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August 26th, 2006:

*Oil company profits vs. offshore worker safety: how many more lives are going to be lost?

THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS IN THE ARTICLE BELOW ARE BY MR DAVID C RICHMOND IN RESPONSE TO A RECENT NEWS REPORT ENTITLED: Press & Journal (Aberdeen): CAIRNS DEFENDS HSE, AMID CRITICISM FROM OFFSHORE UNIONS: RELEVANT EXTRACTS FROM NEWS REPORT: Scotland Office Minister David Cairns defended the performance of the Health and Safety Executive in UK waters. Mr Cairns, who was attending an ONS press conference yesterday, was asked if the HSE was up to carrying out its role, in light of recent criticism. He replied: “I have no reason at all to doubt the competency of the HSE.”)  read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

MENAFN.com: Saudi Aramco acquires 9.96% in Japan’s Showa Shell

6/08/2006 

(MENAFN) Saudi Aramco will acquire a 9.96% strategic shareholding in Showa Shell, a publicly traded Japanese refining and marketing company, SPA reported.

The transfer of shares is expected to be completed in August this year, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals.

Saudi Aramco has also agreed in principle to acquire an additional 4.99% of Showa Shell from the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, subject to satisfaction of certain commercial conditions.

This is an outcome of an accord signed recently by The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Petroleum News: Penn West touts multi-billion barrel deposit in Alberta

EXTRACT: The Penn West leases are adjacent to properties acquired by Shell Canada earlier this year in a C$2.43 billion takeover of BlackRock Ventures. The purchase gave Shell 268,000 net acres with more than 1 billion barrels of estimated oil initially in place and has given the company enough confidence to aim for 100,000 bpd of production once it decides how to upgrade the heavy crude into refinery-ready synthetic crude.

THE ARTICLE

By Gary Park

Penn West Energy Trust, the largest producer among Canadian trusts, is gearing up to become a big-time heavy oil player with a possible stake in production, transportation and upgrading. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Petroleum News: Alberta: Probing profits from pollution

Provincial government and industry launch joint effort to evaluate economics of reducing carbon dioxide emissions into atmosphere

By Gary Park

The Alberta government and its petroleum industry are trying to turn an environmental minus into an economic plus.

A joint study will try to figure out ways to turn a profit from carbon dioxide, which is the worst contributor to greenhouse gases and which some environmentalists have campaigned to have declared a toxic substance.

In an Environment Canada inventory of 324 facilities in 2004, Alberta-based companies took seven of the top 10 spots as the largest sources of greenhouse gases, led by a coal-fired TransAlta power plant and the Suncor Energy and Syncrude Canada oil sands plants. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Petroleum News: Woodside seeks permits for U.S. LNG port

Australian company wants to regasify cargoes far off the coast of Los Angeles using special ships; first Shell LNG reaches Mexico

By Allen Baker

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. has filed for permits to build an offshore terminal to bring natural gas to the California market via ships carrying LNG.

The Australian company has tried to meet objections from environmental and other groups opposed to various West Coast LNG importing schemes by offering to unload its long-haul liquefied natural gas carriers more than 20 miles offshore onto two special regasification ships that would be built for Woodside. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Petroleum News: Legal cloud hangs over sale results

Western Gulf Lease Sale 200 generates surprising $340.9M in high bids on 381 tracts after MMS prevails against challenges

By Ray Tyson

The U.S. Minerals Management Service, which prevailed against early legal challenges to Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 200, walked away from the traditional August sale with a surprising $340.9 million in high bids. In fact, it was the best Western Gulf showing in nine years for the number of bids submitted and the best performance in eight years for the amount of money bid. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The Times: Cleaning up its act to woo ethical investors

August 26, 2006
 
SOME people may be troubled less by the investment risks and more by the ethics of investing in Africa.

After all, it is not long ago that Shell was being pilloried for its treatment of the native Ogoni people in Nigeria.

Those with longer memories will remember the forced withdrawal of Barclays from apartheid South Africa after a student campaign in Britain.
 
Nowadays, investing in the region carries a much more positive image.

David Aird, managing director at Investec Fund Managers, which is owned by one of South Africa’s biggest banks, says: “On the widest description of ethical investing we are seeing interest from pension schemes and local and national governmental bodies, particularly the latter, where trustees want to be seen to be investing in an emerging continent, such as Africa.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Daily Telegraph: BP to back carbon-offset windfarm schemes

(Filed: 26/08/2006)

From this week, BP filling stations will be adorned with a new logo for the company’s new carbon-offsetting initiative, Target Neutral.
  
By registering on the website www.targetneutral.com, you can, says BP, offset the CO2 emissions from your car by paying towards a carbon-neutralising scheme such as windfarms or biomass plants in India or livestock farms in Mexico.

If, for example, you own mid-sized family saloon and drive approximately 10,000 miles a year, thereby producing about four tons of CO2 per annum, it will cost you about £20 to offset your car’s CO2 emissions for a year, according to calculations done on the Target Neutral website. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Daily Telegraph: Database: Energy: Saturday 26 August 2006

• Changes to working hours in the UK offshore industry could force oil and gas companies to close down “large parts” of their industry, according to the UK Offshore Operators Association.

• Sakhalin Energy, an energy venture led by Royal Dutch Shell in Russia’s Far East, rejected a report that it had failed to respond to a list of alleged environmental violations.

• BP said the head of its Texas City, Texas, refinery, who took over after an explosion last year, will leave in the first quarter and be succeeded by a Royal Dutch Shell executive. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

St. Louis Daily Record: EPA Files Consent Decree in Suit Against Shell Oil

By Donna Walter
Friday, 25 August 2006

The federal government and Shell Oil are close to settling a lawsuit related to the cost of cleaning up hazardous materials found at the Great Lakes Container Corp. at 42 Ferry St. in St. Louis.

Under the settlement, Shell would pay $228,630 to the Environmental Protection Agency Hazardous Substance Superfund for past and future costs to clean up lead-related contamination.

The government’s lawsuit against Shell also names Mallinckrodt and Solutia as defendants. The case is pending in U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber’s courtroom. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Anacortes American: Shell open house will showcase improvements at refinery

By Kimberly Jacobson – American staff writer 
 
After putting more than $400 million into the facility, it’s time for Shell Puget Sound Refinery to celebrate.

“Employees want to have the public come in to show off all the great things we’ve been doing,” said Tom Wood, human resources and external affairs manager.

Wood said recently there has been an inward focus at the refinery.

“We want to get out there and be a part of the community,” he said.

The refinery will host a community open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26. The event is free. Members of the community are invited to come to the refinery, located at 8505 South Texas Road. The event will feature free food and entertainment for all ages, information booths from several local businesses as well as fun and games for the kids. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The Times: Staff and rigs shortages put oil firms over barrel

August 26, 2006

By David Robertson
 
A CRITICAL shortage of skilled workers and of drilling equipment is preventing the oil industry increasing production. With oil prices at near-record levels every producer is working at full capacity and there are insufficient people and rigs to develop fully new projects.
 
 
With so much demand for key technical staff and equipment, salaries and costs have been soaring. According to senior executives the cost of hiring a deep-water drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico has doubled to $400,000 (£210,000) a day in the past two years. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Reuters: Shell to shut FCC at L.A.-area refinery-sources

Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:31pm ET

HOUSTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Shell was preparing to shut the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit at its 99,000 barrel per day Los Angeles area refinery in Wilmington, California, on Friday for unplanned repairs, sources familiar with refinery operations said.

The refinery was reducing feed to the 36,000 bpd unit on Friday morning, the sources said.

Shell notified California public safety and environmental agencies of flaring from the refinery on Friday morning due to an equipment shutdown. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

International Herald Tribune: Nigeria troops storm and burn slums

Reuters
Published: August 25, 2006
 
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria Nigerian soldiers burned hundreds of slum houses located close to the compound of an Italian oil company where two foreign oil workers were kidnapped and their bodyguard killed overnight.

 
Residents said the soldiers stormed the waterside settlement around the compound of Saipem, a unit of the Italian oil company ENI, poured gasoline over the houses and set fire to them.
 
“I am surprised our own soldiers could do this to us,” said one resident, who gave his name only as James.
 
“They came here, poured petrol and set fire to our property and houses to kill us. What offense have we committed?”
 
At least two foreign oil workers, including one Italian, were kidnapped from a bar in the slum area on Thursday night, residents said.
 
The gunmen who took them also shot and killed an army sergeant who was guarding them and injured another soldier.
 
“The soldiers are asking why we let the militants in to kill their soldier,” said another resident, who declined to be named.
 
Families returned to the area around the Saipem compound on Friday morning, picking over the charred remains of their houses to recover personal items, but were chased away by soldiers brandishing bottles and throwing stones.
 
A helicopter gunship hovered overhead while naval men moved around in pickups.
 
The reprisal came after President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the security services to use “force for force” against militants who have staged eight separate abductions of oil workers this month alone.
 
In total at least 19 people have been kidnapped, but only three are still in captivity.
 
Government sources say Rivers State government paid 20 million naira, or $156,000, for the release of six foreign oil workers earlier this week.
 
“The Rivers State government has been encouraging this by promptly paying large sums for their release,” said the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, which has taken hostages but says it is opposed to kidnapping for ransom.
 
“Politicians are also using this as a platform to showcase their leverage amongst ‘militia groups’ in the delta. It’s now a booming trade.”
 
The string of kidnappings followed a series of crippling attacks on the oil industry in the world’s eighth largest exporter earlier this year by Mend, which is fighting for greater regional control over the region’s oil wealth.
 
Those attacks forced Royal Dutch Shell to evacuate hundreds of oil workers from oil fields in the western delta in February, reducing output by 500,000 barrels a day or one sixth of the nation’s capacity.
 
One attempted hostage release went wrong on Sunday, when militants bringing a Nigerian Shell worker out of captivity ran into a military convoy, and a gunfight broke out.
 
At least 10 militants were killed and Mend said on Thursday it would avenge their deaths.
 
  read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.